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Al Kircher
| birth_place = Turtle Lake, Wisconsin | death_date = | death_place = Salem, Oregon | alma_mater = | player_years1 = 1931–1933 | player_team1 = Michigan State | player_positions = Quarterback (football), Guard (basketball), Outfielder (baseball) | coach_sport1 = Football | coach_years2 = 1939–1949 | coach_team2 = Michigan State (assistant) | coach_years3 = 1950–1951 | coach_team3 = Washington State (backfield) | coach_years4 = 1952–1955 | coach_team4 = Washington State | coach_sport5 = Basketball | coach_years6 = 1939–1949 | coach_team6 = Michigan State (assistant) | coach_years7 = 1949–1950 | coach_team7 = Michigan State | coach_sport8 = Baseball | coach_years9 = 1940–1950 | coach_team9 = Michigan State (assistant) | overall_record = 13–25–2 (football) 4–18 (basketball) | bowl_record = | tournament_record = | championships = | awards = | coaching_records = }} Alton S. "Al" Kircher (December 5, 1909 – November 1, 2004) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach. Early years Born in Turtle Lake, Wisconsin, Kircher grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in Gladstone. He was a star athlete at Gladstone High School and then attended Michigan State College in East Lansing, where he earned nine letters in football, basketball, and baseball for the Spartans. Kircher was the quarterback on the football team and the captain of the basketball team. An outfielder in baseball, he had a batting average of .430 (37 for 86) in 1933. Coaching career Kircher began his coaching career in Michigan at Trout Creek High School in 1935 as the basketball coach, and won two state titles (class D), in 1935 and 1937. Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame Kircher moved to Marquette in 1937 and coached at Marquette High School (Graveraet). Kircher returned to his alma mater, Michigan State, as an assistant coach in three sports from 1939 to 1950, and was head basketball coach for 1949–50 season. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army and was wounded during the Normandy invasion, earning a Purple Heart. He was later awarded a Silver Star and two Bronze Stars. When fellow Spartan assistant Forest Evashevski was hired as the head football coach at Washington State College of the Pacific Coast Conference in 1950, Kircher followed him west and joined his staff in Pullman as backfield coach. In Evashevski's second season in 1951, the Cougars were 7–3, their best record since 1932. Evashevski left for Iowa of the Big Ten Conference in January 1952 and Kircher planned to go east with him, but was promoted and stayed on the Palouse as the 20th head coach of the Cougar football program. Kircher's Cougars were 4–6 in each of his first three seasons, but fell to 1–7–2 in 1955 and he was fired days after the final game, a loss to rival Washington. Miami Herald Washington State University all-time football records His overall record for four seasons was 13–25–2.Washington State Cougars coaching records After coaching Kircher was relieved of his head coaching duties in November 1955 with a year remaining on his five-year contract, at $12,500 per year. He opted to stay in Pullman and acquired a motel-restaurant, the Hilltop Lodge, in early 1956. He and his family operated it for nearly two decades, then moved to Las Vegas and later to Salem, Oregon. Death Kircher died in 2004 at a nursing home in Salem, several weeks before his 95th birthday. Honors and awards Kircher was inducted into the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame in Michigan in 1985. He was added to the Gladstone High School hall of fame in 2013. Head coaching record College basketball ) | confrecord = }} ) | legend = no }} College football References External links * Al Kircher at College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com Category:1909 births Category:2004 deaths Category:Michigan State Spartans baseball coaches Category:Michigan State Spartans baseball players Category:Michigan State Spartans football coaches Category:Michigan State Spartans football players Category:Michigan State Spartans men's basketball coaches Category:Michigan State Spartans men's basketball players Category:Washington State Cougars football coaches Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:Military personnel from Michigan